1965:
Gemini IV Umbilical
"This is the saddest moment of my life."
When Ed White became the first American, and second human, to "walk in space," he was connected to his Gemini IV spacecraft with this 7-meter (23-foot) gold-covered tether "umbilical." Just as for a baby in a mother's womb, White's umbilical was his lifeline, carrying breathing oxygen from the capsule to his spacesuit. In the event of an emergency during his spacewalk, he had an oxygen chest pack to give him enough time to get back in and hook himself directly to the spacecraft. Wrapped inside the umbilical, along with the oxygen hoses, was a flat nylon tether to ensure that he did not float away from Gemini IV, plus communications and electrical lines. White so thoroughly enjoyed his 23 minutes at the end of his golden umbilical that when Houston ordered him to get back in, he sighed, "This is the saddest moment of my life."
Some kind of "extravehicular activity" (EVA) had long been in the planning for Gemini IV, the second piloted flight of the two-astronaut Gemini series. Initially, the mission called for White to just stand in an open hatch. But after Soviet cosmonaut Alexei Leonov exited his Voskhod 2 spacecraft on March 18, 1965, NASA examined the possibility of letting White float outside. The successful test flight of Gemini III on March 23 cleared the way for the next crew, Jim McDivitt and Ed White, to do their full four-day mission, including an EVA. The crew in particular pushed hard for a "spacewalk," as the EVA equipment was ready. That included not only the tether umbilical, but also the emergency chest pack, modifications to the Gemini spacesuit, and a handheld maneuvering gun. Squeezing a trigger activated cold jets of oxygen, giving White the thrust to push himself around.
The plan was for command pilot McDivitt to maneuver Gemini IV close to their spent booster so that White could test his ability to move in space with the handheld maneuvering unit. But with very little rendezvous training, McDivitt found it impossible to catch the tumbling rocket on their second orbit. Preparing to exit also took more time than expected, so the astronauts asked Mission Control to put off the EVA until the next circuit. Coming around the Earth again, they bled off Gemini IV's atmosphere as they passed over Australia and the South Pacific; White got out as they sped by Hawaii. Mission Control timed his walk to take place primarily over the continental United States, when he would be in direct communication with Houston for many minutes.
Free of the extremely tight confines of the cabin, White immensely enjoyed maneuvering around, in front of, and behind Gemini IV, while witnessing stunning vistas of oceans, clouds, and land below and a jet black sky above. The ease of his EVA was very encouraging, but also misleading: he experienced the advantages of zero gravity and few of the disadvantages. When Gemini astronauts next ventured outside in 1966 to do more serious experiments, they found it exhausting to accomplish any physical task without proper footholds or handholds. There had been a hint of that at the end of White's walk, when he had a very difficult time getting the hatch to lock shut. McDivitt finally held his legs down while White, with his great physical strength, cranked the latch closed. It had been a frightening moment. That exertion left him completely overheated, but in hindsight the moment of danger paled in comparison to his transcendent experience outside.
NASA transferred Gemini IV, this umbilical, and other mission materiel to the Museum in 1967.
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